With the pier, a popular fishing spot and gathering spot at sunset, officials are looking at a process that will take more time. But they hope to get the fishing wall repairs done much more quickly with an eye on summertime crowds who gather there. 

“It’s not a quick fix,” City Administrator Ken Grimes said of the pier. “The damage is fairly extensive in the middle and the outer section as far as the pilings and how it was washed. At this point, there are four or five different ways it could go and unfortunately none of them are fast. It’s going to be an expensive venture no matter what we do on the pier.” 

When it goes out for bid, Grimes said the city is asking for two different proposals to compare the two to see how the city will proceed.

“The bid will be a full redo of the pier as it sits today and how it looks with the length of it and everything,” Grimes said. “Then we’ll have another option that would be a pier but a shorter pier from a standpoint of still a place to go as far as the public park so we can see what is the difference of the full pier versus half the pier. We don’t really know what that extent will be and what that cost will be.”

To apply for FEMA help with the replacement also adds time to the process and that will play a role in the future of the Waterfront Park Pier.

“We do have some insurance coverage on the structure itself,” Grimes said. “We can apply the insurance toward what we want to do and then we will apply through FEMA because it’s a public facility for potential reimbursement and be able to rebuild depending. If we chose that route it would take longer to get it back in place but it would be heavily funded by some of the dollars that would be available for public facilities reimbursements.”

Grimes said hopefully bids on the pier options will go out within a month or so. The biggest problem will likely be finding a company available to get to the pier given the other waterfront damage all over the city and the island.

“The reality is everybody that’s in the pier reconstruction business, pilings, dock repair, everybody is slammed,” Grimes said. “And will probably be slammed for two years. That means pricing is going to be high just by the nature of demand. That’s the unfortunate side of that project but we’re going to definitely get something back at the public facility which they enjoy going out over the water.”

The new seawall/boardwalk at Waterfront Park also sustained some damage from the storm and is in need of repairs. Some of it remains open to the public. 

Also, at Waterfront Park, Grimes said the city is making plans to put new equipment at the playground there and hopes it can be complete by summer. Most of it was torn down before Sally due to rot but swings and a pirate ship apparatus both are still intact and available for public use.

PERDIDO PASS FISHING WALL

This area was damaged years ago and basically abandoned by the state because of the prohibitive cost of having it repaired. Orange Beach stepped in and asked for permission to pay for the repairs to keep this unique and popular spot open to the public.

“Do we want to try to fix under FEMA, do we want to scale back some of them?” Coastal Resources Director Phillip West asked. “If we fix them under FEMA it’s going to take a lot longer. Then there will be questions are you going to mitigate like Waterfront Park Pier. Are you going to try to ask for a mitigation grant to elevate it or put in bigger pilings next time? There’s just a lot to consider because all that takes time. Some people are OK with that – I would be. Other people aren’t.

“The seawall park, I want to fix that as soon as we can. I don’t want to wait to go through some sort of mitigation program for that we just want to get it fixed. Hopefully we’ll be moving forward on that pretty soon.”

Grimes says no decisions have been made on how to proceed with the repairs but he also is hopeful it can be open for the summer season.

“The land is owned by the state and the city has funded the improvements that were there,” Grimes said. “I don’t have specific details yet but we’re going to try to get that one open by summer to where the boardwalk’s back in place, the benches. I think there’s been some decisions as to working with the state and trying to figure out what’s the best way and quickest way. The city will probably tackle that in getting it back open. Every time I go down you can see the sections that are open and how many people are starting to show up and we’re not even to the busy season.”

BACKCOUNTRY TRAIL

Most of the trail is usable with two small exceptions, Sawgrass Grass Trail that runs west of the campground storage area and had some boardwalk burned. The cabin trail that connects to the cabins on Lake Shelby is also closed because none of the cabins are usable.

In Orange Beach, the gravel trail south of the Sportsplex that is a connector from the trailhead there to the 10-foot sidewalk is the only trail closed there.

DEBRIS PICKUP

The last day for the city's contractor to pick up Hurricane Sally debris is March 16 exactly six months from when the storm hit.